of brooklyn



REGEPTAGLE CLOSURE Filed Dec. 51. 1925 Patented Nov. 2, 1926.

UNITED STATES.

AUGUSTUS L. MEROLLE, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE EMPIRE METAL 1,605,850 PATENT OFFICE.

CAP COMPANY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

RECEPTACLE CLOSURE.

Application filed December 31; 1925. Serial No. 78,533.

This invention relates to a receptacle clo sure, and an object of the invention is to provide a closure of the simple screw thread type and in which means is provided for enabling ready removal of the closure, the" present invention being in the nature of an improvementpver the structure shown and described in my Patent No. 1554749.

A particular object of the present improvement is to provide a more eflicient means by which the cap may be loosened from sealing position as the result of blows dealt the cap.

A more detailed object is to improve the form' of the sealing portion of the cap so that said portion may more efficiently effect releasing of the cap when said portionis struck.

A further detailed object is to so construct the distortable sealing portion of the cap that it may constitute a more eflicient seal until distorted.

Other objects and aims of the invention, more or less specific than those referred to above, will be in part obvious and in part pointed out in the course of the following description of the elements, combinations, arrangements of parts and applications of principles constituting the invention, and the scope of protection contemplated will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings which are to be taken as a part of this specification,

and in which I have shown merely a preferred form of embodiment of the invention: I Fig. 1 is a side elevational view, partly in section, of a closure and illustrating the same as applied onto a receptacle.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of a portion of the closure appearing in'Fi 1, and Fig. 3 is a detail sectiona view similar to the upper left hand portion of Fig. land illustrating a modification of the sealing portion of the closure.

Referring to the drawings for describing in detail the structure therein illustrated, the reference character L indicates the receptacle, which is of course open at its upper end and which is preferably provided with upper end of the receptacle there is rovided the usual outstanding thread or t reads 2 with which the closure is intended to engage by inter-rotation of the receptacle and closure in the usual manner.

The reference character G indicates gentherein for engaging the thread or threads 2.

It-should be here noted that the flange portion of the present cap may be made up in any appropriate form and may be provided witha single continuous thread for engaging a cooperative single thread on the receptacle, or it may be provided with divided threads, or thread lugs, for cooperating with divided threads or thread lugs provided upon the receptacle, or otherwise. The

drawing herein however illustrates a single thread receptacle and closure since such closures are ordinarily the most difficult to remove and since therefore the value of the present improvement will be most clearly apparent.

The annular marginal or sealing portion 6 of the cover part 3, which directly overlies the upper annular edge surface of the receptacle, and which therefore exerts-a direct downward pressure against the edge surface of the receptacle is formed with two levels, a lower level 7 and an upper level 8. These two levels are connected by a diagonally disposed wall portion 9. The line of demarcation between the levels 7 and 8 is zig-zag, as clearly seen in Fig. 2 and the wall 9 therefore of course follows said zigzag line. The formation of these parts is produced by. stretching of the metal and particularly of the metal in the connecting wall portion 9 so that the full resiliency of the metal is to a certain extent destroyed.

.When the cap is screwed downwardly onto the receptacle the under surfaces of the parts 7-7 will. engage directly against the material of the rece tacle, or against the gasket if such be emp oyed, and will be subject to direct upward pressure tending to return them to their normal positions in the plane of the portions 8.

The pressure which may be exerted by forced rotation of a single thread cap may easily be suflicient to even partly return the portion 7 upwardly to the plane of the portions 8, and it will therefore be apparent that in all average cases the additional force required" to return the portions 7 to a sufficient height for loosenin the cap threads from the receptacle threa s may be readily applied in the form of light blows struck by a suitable instrument, as for instance a knife handle, downwardly against the upper surface of the portion 8. These blows will cause the stretched metal in the portion 9, already under considerably crushing strain, to yield and return to a set condition with the portions 7 relatively elevated.

In striking downwardly upon the upper surface of the portion 8, or upon the upper annular edge of the wall 9,"that is upon the angular juncture between the portions 8 and 9, each blow thus struck will of course not only produce a set of the wall 9 in a relatively flattened condition but will also cause a certain and definite momentary downward movement of the adjacent portion of the flange 4 and thus cause said portion to release the adhesive grip which it may have secured upon the receptacle due 1 to the presence of rust or corrosion or to, the

will be necessary only to strike a few light blows downwardly against the upper surface of the sealing portion 6 at spaced points circumferentially thereof and it will be apparent that the tighter the closure has been screwed onto the receptacle, and consequently the greater the crushing strain present upon the wall portion 9, the easier will the closure succumb to the effect of the blows applied.

The annular portion 10 of the cover part 3 just within the circle defined by the seal- .ing portion 6 is turned diagonally downward] so as to provide an outwardly faciLg diagonal surface for engaging, with a wedge-acting force, against the inner annular corner surface of the receptacle.

Since these portions of the closure and receptacle are smooth and uncorrugated they may be depended uponto provide an appropriate seal in some instances without an interposed gasket but preferably a gasket disk as 11 is employed which extends into position between said surfaces and provides a positive and eflicient seal therebetween.

The gasket 11 has its marginal portion preferably extending also into position between the upper edge surface of the receptacle and the under surface of the sealing portion 6 and is preferably of suitably plastic or yieldable material so that it will permit the lower level portion 7 to become embedded therein and so that its portions beneath the upper. level 8 will bulge upwardly and fill the enlarged space beneath said upper level and between the zig-zagging parts of wall 9, thus providing a further eflicient seal between the receptacle and the closure.

A certain amount of wrinkling which will be occasioned in the marginal portions of the gasket 11, due to the lateral bending thereof about the wedge-acting sealing surface 10 will be readily located and accommodated in the space beneath the upper level 8.

Where the gasket is employed a certain amount of pressure may be felt therethrough by the material of the upper level 8 but this will not be in suflicient force to in any material extent interfere with the return setting of the wall 9 when blows are struck against the upper level.

It is to be particularly noted that the zigzag wall 9 traverses back and forth across the upper edge of the receptacle defining outer apexes 12-12 in close proximity to the flange 4 and alternate inner apexes 13-.13 spaced further from said flange 4 but preferably outside of the vertical plane of the inner annular edge as 14: of the receptacle. Certain advantages of this arrangement maybe mentioned, first, that the lower level 7 extends continuously throughout the circumference of the receptacle for thereby providing a smooth and efiicient seal against the upper edge of the receptacle, being relatively narrow at the apexes I13 and broader at the apexes 12, second, that the presence of the wall 9 extending from a point close to the flange 4 to a pointspaced inwardly from said flange materially stiffens and reenforces the marginal portion of the capand prevents the sealing portion against undue bending or flexing incident to the downwardly pulling strain of the inter-engaging threads 2 and 5. A much lighter weight material may be employed for the cap, than would be suitable except for this stiffening and re-enforcing value. The marginal portion of the cap will move more as a body when a blow is struck upon the upper level in releasing the cap and will thereby more equally distribute the force 'of the blow, and third, since there is only a single wall as 9 upstanding and requiring to be mashed or set by releasing blows, instead of the double ormultiple Walls provided bythe corrugatrons appearing in my previous patent, said single wall may be more easily mashed or set by blows than heretofore.

in the modification Fig. 3 the structure forth except that in this instance the lower level. as 15, is next adjacent the flange a and the upper level, as 16, is spaced from the flange at. The annular sealing portion 10 described in the previous figures may or may not be employed as desired.

The lowerand upper levels 15 and 16 are connected by a zig-zag upwardly extending.

wall 17 corresponding with the wall 9 of the previous figures and the cap shown in Fig. 3 may be released by blows struck upon the upper level 16 to mash or set down the wall 17. The result of releasing blows in this instance, instead of driving down the flange portion 4 as in Figs. 1 and 2 will cause the flange to be pushed or swung,'to a certain extent radially outwardly away from the annular surface of the receptacle and in this way made to loosen its grip upon the threads of the receptacle. The lower level 15 will provide a continuous and eflicient seal against the upper edge of the receptacle, and the gasket as 18. whenemployed, may or may not bulge upwardly against the upper level, according to the natunof the gasket material'employed.

The diagonal or inclining disposition of the walls 9 and 17 away-from a vertical plane and inclining outwardly from the central portion of the cover. in both the structures Figs. 1 and 3 is an important structural feature since obviously a blow struck downwardly at the upper edge of the wall and bending or crushing the underlying portion of the wall downwardly will produce a resultant force tending to swing the wall outwardly into a horizontal plane. This tendency will of course be felt by the adjacent portion of the flange 4 so that said flange will be correspondingly eflected and thereby pushed radially outwardly from its tight friction engagement with the threads of the receptacle.

As many changes could be made in this construction without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims. it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A receptacle closure comprising acover part and a flange part, means comprised inf the flange part by which to urge the cover part. downwardly against an I upper edge surface of the receptacle, and the seal-torming portion of the cover part overlying the annular edge of the receptacle being formed on two levels one merging into the flange part and the other merging into the central portion of the cover part, and the sealtorming portion comprising one of said leyels being of varying widths.

2. A receptacle closure comprising a cover part and a flange part, means comprised in the flange part by which to urge the cover part downwardly against an upper edge surface of the receptacle; and the seal-forming portion of the cover part overlying the annular edge of the receptacle being shaped to provide a continuous annular portion at a relatively low level and of varying widths and a second continuous annular portion at a relatively higher level also of varying widths.

3. A receptacle closure comprising a cover part and a flange part, means com-' prised in'the flange part by which to urge the cover part downwardly against an upper edge surface of the receptacle, the cover part having its outer annular edge portion overlying the annular edge of the receptacle elevated with respect to the main portion of the cover part, and the line of demarcation between said'elevated portion and the main portion being zig-zagged.

4. A receptacle closure comprising a cover part and a flange part, means comprised in the flange part by which to urge the cover part downwardly against an uppere'dge surface of the receptacle, and the seal-forming portion of the cover part overlying the annular edge of the receptacle being formed on two levels joined by a single Wallextending in a zig-zag line circumferentially of said seal-forming portion.

5. A receptacle closure comprising a cover part and a flange part, means comprised in the flange part by which to urge the cover part downwardly against an upper edge surface of the receptacle, and the seal-forming portion of the cover part overlyingthe annular edge of the receptacle being formed on two levels joined by a single wall extending in a zig-zag line circumferentially of said seal-forming portion and inclining outwardly from the centre ofthd closure. 7

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

AUGUSTUS L. MEROLLE. 

